20 ways to save on utility bills

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We cannot restrain the growth of tariffs, but we can reduce the amount in receipts. Here are the solutions to help you spend less on your communal apartment.

1. Check the thermal insulation

The wooden frames were replaced by plastic double-glazed windows. They are more reliable, but over time, the polyurethane foam dries up, the rubber seals coarsen. Check to see if there is any blowing from your windows. If so, close up the cracks, otherwise you will heat the street in winter. Also check the insulation of the front door.

2. Adjust the room temperature

When leaving for work or leaving for the country, turn down the radiators. Why heat empty rooms? When you return, you can turn the valve on the battery and heat the apartment to a comfortable level. The most convenient way to regulate the temperature is with a timer thermostat.

If the house is hot, it is better to turn down the temperature of the battery than to open the window.

3. Install a multi-tariff electricity meter

Multi-tariff metering devices allow you to vary the electricity bill depending on the time of day. There is a day rate, when a kilowatt per hour costs roughly 5 rubles, and a night rate, when it costs 2 rubles. There are also half-peak evening zones, when electricity is cheaper than daytime, but more expensive than nighttime.

If you run your washing machine and dishwasher after the night rate starts (about 23 hours), you can save a lot. But if you are rarely awake at this time, and the devices are not equipped with a delayed start function, then it is more profitable to use a single-rate meter with an average cost of a kilowatt per hour.

4. Replace incandescent bulbs with LED

It will take an investment, but it will pay off. LED bulbs consume 8-10 times less energy than conventional bulbs.

5. When leaving, turn off the light

Trivial advice, but we often neglect it. It is especially important to teach children to turn off the lights. While you are not at home, it can burn in all rooms.

6. Install motion sensors

These devices are relevant not only for the entrances of apartment buildings, but also for terraces and attics in private houses, corridors, balconies, closets and other rooms where we rarely look and where it is so easy to forget to turn off the light.

7. Check the energy efficiency of home appliances

Modern household appliances are classified into energy efficiency classes.

The higher it is (A ++, A +, A), the less energy the device consumes per hour. If your refrigerator and oven are labeled below C, consider replacing them. Yes, this will also require investment, but in the long term, the benefits will be much greater.

8. Inspect the refrigerator

Check the rubber bands on the doors and ice in the freezer. Cooling is ineffective if the synthetic pads are loose. The freshness of food suffers, and electricity is actually wasted.

Frost in the freezer and even more so in the refrigerator compartment also reduces the efficiency of the device. Try to defrost the refrigerator regularly, not only for hygiene reasons.

9. Take food out of the freezer in advance

First, natural defrosting is healthier. Secondly, why turn on the microwave or oven, if everything will perfectly thaw out by itself in a few hours?

10. Turn off the electric stove in advance

The surface of electric stoves, as a rule, is made of ceramic materials, which keep heat for quite a long time. So if at the end of the recipe it says "simmer for another 5-10 minutes over low heat", feel free to turn off the stove. The food will reach while the hob cools down.

11. Use cookware made of rapidly heating materials

Ceramic, glass and copper cookware heats up faster than cast iron and steel. Law of physics. The faster the pan heats up, the less energy is spent on it. The law of economy.

Also, do not take a three-liter pan if you just need to boil dumplings for one or two people. Large containers take a long time to warm up, which means they waste your money.

12. Pour exactly as much water into the kettle as you need now

An electric kettle consumes a lot of energy. It takes about five minutes to boil a full 2-liter kettle. But do you always use all this boiling water at once?

Heating a cup of water will take no more than a minute, which means that you will save several tens of watts, which is very noticeable in terms of monthly indicators (15–20 kW / h). And descale the kettle. It will boil faster, saving energy.

13. Clean the vacuum cleaner

The vacuum cleaner is also greedy for electricity. If it is clogged with dust and dirt, its benefits are negligible. You have to vacuum the same place ten times. And this is not only extra time, but also extra kilowatts.

14. Wash at lower power

We often choose a washing mode without looking at the product tag.

Heating water up to 60 ° C requires four times more electricity than up to 30 ° C.

Hot water (60 ° C and higher) is not always needed to remove dirt. Remember this the next time you start your laundry.

Another way to save money is spinning at lower speeds (600 or 800 instead of 1200). Yes, you will get more damp laundry, but you will save energy.

15. Call the plumber

If the faucet is dripping or the toilet cistern is leaking, then it is not water that runs into the pipe, but your money. Repair all plumbing leaks by yourself or with the help of a professional.

16. Don't waste water

Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, shaving, or applying detergent to dishes. A stream of water running to no avail is simply a waste.

17. Install aerators

These are nozzles for mixers that spray water and reduce its consumption by 2–3 times. Manufacturers of such devices claim that 10-15 liters are poured out of the tap with a normal flow of water, and only 5-6 liters with a nozzle. Significant savings when you consider that the aerator costs 100-200 rubles. You can buy it, like other things to save money, on AliExpress.

18. Consider buying a dishwasher

On the one hand, the dishwasher consumes a lot of electricity. On the other hand, it allows you to significantly save on water.

A dishwasher uses 2-3 times less water than a hand wash under a tap.

The benefits are even more obvious if a number of conditions are met:

• Buy a dishwasher with the highest energy efficiency class possible.
• Save up dishes throughout the day and run the dishwasher once a day.
• Use the dishwasher after 23 hours if you have a two-tariff meter.

19. Pay only for those who are registered

Often the cost of using the elevator, cleaning at the entrance and overhaul depends on the number of people registered in the apartment. Even if a brother, aunt or son has been living in another city for a long time, but has not been deregistered at this address, you will have to pay for this person.

The amount in the payment may become less if you write out those who do not live in the apartment.

20. Keep utility records

According to a survey by VTsIOM, up to 71% of citizens consider the main problem of housing and communal services not the quality of services, but their high cost. At the same time, almost half of the respondents could not name exactly the amount they pay for the communal apartment.

It is somehow not accepted to keep records and even more to doubt the correctness of calculating utility bills in our country. And in vain.

Always check the numbers on the receipt with the meter readings and the current tariffs.

Do not hesitate to ask the management and power supply companies for a recalculation. Including during the absence from the apartment. And pay for a communal apartment without commissions.

Apply these tips in a comprehensive manner and the savings will be tangible. And if you have your own tricks, share them in the comments.